Evolution/Creation Dialogues

EVOLUTION/CREATION DIALOGUES

EPISTOLARY SKIRMISHES IN THE PERENNIAL CONFLICT BETWEEN

COMMON DESCENT AND SPECIAL CREATION

"In that case [the Scopes Trial], anti-evolutionists were fearful that a scientific idea would undermine religious belief. Today, pro-evolutionists are fearful that a religious idea will undermine scientific belief. The former had insufficient confidence in religion, the latter insufficient confidence in science. The point is that profound but contradictory ideas may exist side by side, if they are constructed from different materials and methods and have different purposes. Each tells us something important about where we stand in the universe, and it is foolish to insist that they must despise each other." - Neil Postman. The End of Education, Alfred Knopf, New York, 1995, p.107.

This website was originally created to clear up some unfinished business relating to the exchange of correspondence between me, Jack DeBaun (a proponent of the theory of evolution), and Mr. Tim Knapp (a self-described young-earth creationist (YEC)). This exchange was initiated by Mr. Knapp in the letters to the editor section of a local newspaper in response to the October, 2001, PBS series on evolution. It eventually took on the form of an e-mail debate, and ultimately resulted in my development of this website to clarify my position on the subject. The correspondence exchanged between Mr. Knapp and myself ( together with a chronology of the ensuing events) is presented below under the title, "The DeBaun/Knapp Epistolary Skirmish." The dialogue incorporates many of the arguments that are commonly raised by creationists against the theory of evolution and my responses to them. This website also includes additional comments relating to Mr. Knapp's website, correspondence with other creationists and Intelligent Design (ID) advocates, and articles and links that address salient issues related to the evolution/creation controversy. [Note: As of 3/6/08, Mr. Knapp's website no longer appears to be active.]

By using the term "creationist," I am referring in general to those who believe that all biological species have arisen in a few thousand years from a relatively few basic "kinds" that were created in full form by divine agency in accordance with the Genesis story of creation in the Bible. In my dealings with various creationists, I have found that most of them lack a firm understanding of what the theory of evolution actually entails and are unaware of the vast repository of evidence that supports it. Most of what they know about biological evolution has been gleaned from misinformation disseminated from the pulpit and creationist websites. This website attempts to set the record straight by addressing erroneous information produced and promoted by pro-creation sources and by providing an understanding of the theory of evolution from a mainstream science perspective. It is my hope that those on both sides of the controversy will find the information presented on this website to be both thought provoking and informative.

[Note: This website was produced using Microsoft FrontPage. Unfortunately, some browsers do not correctly reproduce certain punctuation marks such as quotation marks and apostrophes. These marks often appear as a small black diamond with a question mark inside. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and hope that the correct punctuation mark will be evident from the context.]